My favorite soldier
by Gamblinman
Summary: Roxas is in the Hollow Bastion Armed Forces, and has been deployed for awhile. But on memorial day his beloved Namine sends him a letter. Oneshot


**Hey guys, this is my first oneshot! I'm doing it for Memorial Day, and it's Rokunami. That's not a big surprise though, since that's my favorite pairing.**

 **R &E**

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** Roxas' POV

We were under rapid fire attack, and not holding out. It was down to three of us, me Sora, Riku, and Hayner. We were under heavy fire, a relentless attack. Yet we didn't give, we never lost hope. After all this time we've managed to learn one thing; lose hope, and you're sure to lose the battle. So we sat there, under heavy fire, trying to come up with a plan.

Sora, Riku, and Hayner and I, are serving in the Radiant Garden Armed Forces or RGAF for short. For years Radiant Garden has been warring with the nearby nation of The Land of Dragons. The war broke out right after the four of us got out of high school, and we were forced by the government to go into the military. We all chose to go into the Armed Forces, in hope that we may get into the same unit. With a stroke of luck, we did.

We've been serving for about three and a half years, and soon we're allowed to retire from the military, or we have the choice to go career. As if any of us are even considering go into this thing for life.

For three years we've been on this battlefront, and we've all hated it. We don't like having to be in a foreign land, constantly in danger, and terribly homesick. We're only allowed back home to Hollow Bastion once a year, during the holidays, for about two weeks. And let me tell you, I absolutely love those two weeks.

We all have families to get to. Sora has an older brother, Vanitas, and a cousin (who happens to be my brother) Ventus. Sora and Vanitas are my cousins, but Ventus and Vanitas, for whatever reason, weren't recruited. Our parents, and my Aunt and Uncle, were killed in a car crash. It's just us. Ventus moved in with his wife, Aqua (who's wedding we missed because of the war) into her apartment. Vanitas lives on his own, in a dingy downtown apartment. Me and Sora don't have a place to crash, since were gone for all but two weeks of the year, but when we do go home, Sora crashes with his auburn haired girlfriend Kairi.

Hayner has parents, and his best friend, Pence. When he goes home, he lives with his parents, but he spends most of his free time with Pence, and his brunette girlfriend, Olette. They were high school sweethearts, but didn't actually start going out until senior year. Kairi and Sora started in freshman year, and had what you might call the perfect relationship.

Riku's parents died when he was younger. He never told us, and we never asked, since we didn't want to pry. He used to live with his parents at Destiny Islands when he was younger, but after whatever happened to his parents occurred, he moved in with his Uncle Sephiroth in Hollow Bastion. Sephiroth isn't the friendly, joke making uncle type, so when Riku returns home, he doesn't have to spend very much time with him. So he spends most of his time with his ravenette girlfriend, Xion. The story between me and Xion is a complicated one.

Back in high school, my best friend Xion had a huge crush on me, although she was good at hiding it . One night, she invited the whole gang to her house. Everyone left by ten o'clock, but she asked me stay after for a sec, because she wanted to talk. We had been best friends for a long time, and we talked all the time, so I figured it was nothing. She probably just wanted to gloat to me about her new high score in some game that she was better than me at, or something. Turns out, she wanted to confess, and ask me out. I was utterly shocked and surprised. I never would have even considered her even remotely liking me that way. There was a time when I liked her, but I got used to the fact that she would never have feelings for me, so I moved on. I had found someone else I held feelings for. So, when she asked, I declined, telling her that she could do so much better than me, and deserved someone better, someone who could treat her the way she deserved to be treated. Riku is all of that and more.

She said she understood, but told me that I would always hold a place in her heart _(author is laughing since she has no heart)_ and that if I ever reconsidered, she would be ready. Soon after, she started going out with Riku. It was more to get over me than anything, but she eventually fell for Riku, and they started a wonderful relationship. I doubt what she said back then about always being ready is still valid, but I don't really care, I just like seeing her happy.

Then there was me. When I go home, I get to see Ventus and Vanitas. Sure they're great, but they're not the person I really come home for. I come home for _her_. The angelic, and amazing girl I developed feelings after Xion. Her name is Namine.

I finally managed to get the confidence to ask her out in our sophomore year. A year after Xion asked me out at that party. Yeah, that's how long it takes for me to finally grow a pair to ask a pretty girl I'm crushing on out.

Just how pretty is she? Oh, I'll tell ya, she's gorgeous. She's got long platinum blonde hair, which goes down to her shoulders, to her left shoulder. She looks pretty small and frail, but she can take anything you throw at her. Once, when Seifer was hitting on her, and she was ignoring him like usual. We were dating by that point, and normally I would tell him to buzz off, and threaten to beat him up if he didn't leave. I'm just a little overprotective. But I had to stay behind after class because of my (as usual) failing grades, so she was on her own. She was doing fine ignoring him, until he slapped her ass. She literally freaked. She punched him so hard, instead of just having a black eye, he had a black face. She felt really guilty afterward, and said she probably wouldn't be able to do it again, but it didn't matter, because I was always with her to ward Seifer off, and If I wasn't then Kairi (who happened to be her best friend) was there, and trust me, no one wants to get on Kairi's bad side.

It's kind of cliché, but we all have our girls to go home to. A warm embrace to welcome us home. A loving smile to greet us. Yeah, those two weeks are my favorite time of the year, and I can tell it's hers too.

Last time I went home for the holidays I had a special surprise in store for my dear Namine. I remember, it was so romantic. It was probably one of my best ideas. Okay it was Kairi's idea, but I still was the one doing it, okay?

It was on Christmas morning, and when we woke up, we ran down stairs to open up our presents we got each other, before going to the annual Christmas party at Kairi's. As usual she got me like, ten presents. They were all really expensive too. She is _way_ too nice. Anyways, she let me open up my presents first. They were all wonderful, as usual. After I opened up my presents, she asked where hers presents were. I pulled out a bar of sea-salt ice cream and told her that the ice cream was all I got her. She was obviously disappointed, but she's waaay to nice to tell me that, so she just opened up the ice cream bars' package so she could enjoy the one thing I gave her for Christmas.

I totally came off as the jerk, inconsiderate, cheapskate, and no good boyfriend that she should totally break up with. What she didn't know was that the sea-salt ice cream wasn't the only thing in the package. When she sadly ripped open the package, and grabbed the stick that held the ice cream, what was on the ice cream stick made her gasp. On the stick, just below the tasty treat, was a brilliant 24 carat solid gold ring, with a huge diamond gemstone that weighed like, 2 pounds. Okay, that's an exaggeration; a 2 pound ring would be really heavy, like too heavy for your ring finger to hold up. Anyways, it was a huge diamond. The ring cost me a small fortune (exactly seen years' worth of savings, plus a loan from Sora). Tied around it was a zip tie and a small slip of paper with the words **'** _Marry me?'_ printed on them. That's right, I managed to open up a package of sea-salt ice cream, put a ring on the stick, write the words _'Marry me?'_ on a small slip of paper, in really nice cursive too, and zip tie it onto the popsicle stick. I'm just amazing that way. When she looked up from the note, she saw me on one knee, proposing to her.

When she gasped, I thought that she didn't like it, or that it was too soon, but then she started crying, and said, and I quote _"Yes, yes, god yes Roxas! Of course I'll marry you!"_ She told me that it was the most romantic thing she had ever seen, and true to her word when Kairi told Kairi later that day, Kairi said nothing to her about me getting the idea from her. After she said yes, and we kissed (a lot) I went out to the car, and got her real presents. We haven't gotten married yet, with me being busy, but this is my last year in the military, so when I return, we can plan our wedding.

I smiled at the memory. Now memories were all I had here in The Land of Dragons. In the HBAF encampment, on the battle ground, the battle front, and in the galley and latrines. Memories of her, and the hope that I can return to her in Hollow Bastion, and finally marry her, so we can start a family. These are the things that drive me, every day, so that I can survive this war, and get back to her.

A huge explosion brings me out of my daydream. Idiot, this is no time to be daydreaming, we're in the middle of a firefight! The four of us are hiding behind a cement chunk of rubble, while the Emperor's imperial army shoots at us, and sends grenades our way. We're lucky that they have really bad aim.

Another rocket comes whizzing past us, and explodes, just barely not reaching us. That was a close one. The explosion almost reached our position.

"C'mon Roxas, get your heads out of the clouds and fire!" Riku shouted over at me from where he was shooting his AK47. All of the explosions where making his silver hair shine, and his green eyes stand out like someone from port royal in Disney castle. Over next to me, Hayner was sporting a gunshot wound on his arm, his blonde hair mucked up with dirt and blood. Sora was leaning with his back to the rubble his brown hair full of dust. In one fluid motion Sora's hand flew down to his belt to grab his last grenade, and turning around, he chucked it as hard as he could to the nearest group of imperial soldiers. The blast form the explosion took out good 10 or 20 troops. It wasn't enough though. It never is. There were twice as many about to replace their fallen comrades any second.

Peering around the rubble that was our sanctuary _(where fears and lies melt awaaaaaay, yeah)_ I lifted up my firearm, and fired randomly, taking out a few imperial soldiers. We were running out of ammo and time, not to mention moral. We won't hold out long, not like this anyway.

I reach my hand down to my belt and pulls up my last grenade. This is our one chance. But I can't just throw it, no I can't waste it. I need to use it wisely. This grenade needs to go to a good use.

I look over at my fellow soldiers. Riku was fighting bravely, his gun ablaze, but there's no way of telling how much more ammo he's packing in that rifle. Hayner is right next to me trying to stop or at least slow down, the flow of blood streaming out of his right forearm. He reassures me with his words that he's alright, but his eyes tell a whole different story. He's going to pass out soon if he doesn't get something on that wound. We need to get him medical support soon, or I'm afraid to think of what might happen to him. Sora was next to me, flashing me a reassuring smile, but it wasn't as big as the usual grin he wore. Even he had lost hope, and if the normally optimistic over hopeful Sora loses hope, you know were doomed.

I look over at my friends. They all deserve a happy life. They've been through three and a half years of this, and they deserve a long happy life with the girls that they love. Riku and Xion deserve each other. They're both quiet and reserved, but extremely strong willed. It's also amazing how they can both read each other's minds, as if they have a telepathy link. Sora and Kairi are too perfect for each other. Both are extremely, and naturally happy. They're both overly friendly, and both would do anything for each other, especially Sora, who is so sweet to her. Hayner and Olette are like too peas in a pod. They've both helped each other through so many tough times, and they love each other so much! They all deserve to go home, and see their girls in a few months when they retire from the HBAF.

They all need to go home. I'm going to put not only this grenade to good use, but also my life. Giving them all one last look, and sighing, I stand up from my crouching position, I run around the rubble, and run right into the line of fire. I see the bullets come straight toward me, and I hear the bullets whiz past me, but they are drowned out by the shouts and hollers of my friends from behind the rubble, telling me to stop, and not be so reckless, and to come back to the safety behind the rock. But I can't go back. That would lead the imperial soldiers' fire towards my friends and I can't have their lives being threatened.

I run past the bullets, and I somehow manage to dodge every one of them. Good, that makes it that much easier to carry out my plans, you know, if I'm not dead.

My plan is risky, and it has very little chance to work. In fact, it probably won't work, since my aim isn't as good as Riku, who was a sports superstar in high school, so there's a good chance that I might miss my target. And even if I did make the shot, there's no chance that it might catch, and the bomb could be a dud, making all of this useless and futile. But I have to try anyway.

I still haven't managed to get hit by one of the imperial bullets, which makes me extremely lucky, or the imperial soldiers were very unlucky, or maybe both. Still, count your blessings, which is the category this belongs in.

I manage to make to the imperial tanks, these huge, clunky, tanks that take a decade to shoot, with huge gas tanks. That's what I'm counting on, those ginormous gas tanks.

I slide on the ground like a struggle star, dodging ten more bullets, and as I'm sliding, I bring the grenade up to my face, clench my teeth on the pick, and pull it off, hard and fast. I chuck it in the general direction of the imperial tank, and I manage to make it land, wedged in between the gas tank, and the cannon shooter. It doesn't go off for a few seconds, and I'm afraid that it's a dud but then it goes off.

The explosion the grenade makes is very satisfactory, but the gas tank doesn't ignite, and that was what I was counting on, the gas tank exploding and taking out all the imperial soldiers, and saving my friends. For about a second, I'm scared that it's not going to work, but then the gas tank ignites. The 'boom' it makes, it's so big I don't know how to describe it. Wait it's not a 'boom, it's more like a 'BOOM'. And here I am sliding into the explosion, like its home base.

The explosion itself doesn't get me. No, it's a giant rock that the explosion throws that lands on me, almost killing me.

The rock is on top of mem squeezing my lungs so much that I can't breathe. It makes me happy to see that when I look around, the only visible evidence of the imperial soldiers are the burning carcasses littered around on the ground. Looking around some more, I see that my friends are standing, now in front of the rock, astonished at the explosion, and its sheer mass, and not physically injured by the blast. Good, they need to go home alive. Back to their ladies waiting for them, back home, in Hollow Bastion.

This thought makes me think of my girl back home, waiting for me. Namine. She's probably going to be distraught about my death. She'll stand by the door, waiting for me to return, but I never will.

Oh. Namine, I never meant to do this to you, but I had no choice. Sora, Riku, and Hayner need to go home more than I do.

Sora. Go home and tell Kairi you love her. She always complains to us that you don't tell her that enough when you're not around, but she's too nice to tell you that.

Hayner. Get back to Hollow Bastion and go straight to Olette. Don't stop on the way to hang out with Pence, or to play a round of Stuggle, or too argue with Seifer. Go straight to Olette. You don't pay enough attention to her. You're always putting something else before her. When you go home, go straight to her.

Riku. When you go back home, go to Xion. Make her feel like a Queen. Give her all the attention in the world. Make her feel like she's the most important girl in the world, because to you, she is. Give her what I couldn't.

As I look at my friends, I realize what my true final wish is. The wish I wish more than anything else.

Someone, please, when you get home; tell my Namine that I love her. Please. I fear that I've pulled a Sora, and I haven't told Namine how much I love her often enough.

"Please…" I find myself calling out, even though deep down in my mind, I know that no one can hear my plea.

A bright flash of light flashes in the sky, and all I can see is the white light. This is it. The end of the road. The end of my life. The reaper's here to take me away.

And I find that the last thing I'm thinking as the light gets closer, and I feel my life fading, is that someone heard my wish, and does what I pleaded them.

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I wake up, feeling like I was just run over by a- no not just one, twenty trucks. The first thought that pops into my head: _"Why am I not dead? I should be dead."_ I groan. My head is pounding. I feel like I'm nursing a hangover, the kind you get after a break up, then you go out with your best friend, end up at a bar, your friend reassures you that it'll be one quick drink, and you wake up in a whole different country.

That was exactly what happened when Namine and I broke up. We got in a big argument, she thought Ventus was me when she saw him kissing Aqua, and she thought I was cheating on her. I called Axel, my best friend, and he told me he had a cure for a broken heart. He comes by in his car, picks me up, and next thing I know, we're at seventh heaven. He reassured me we would only have one drink, but that's the last thing I remember before waking up in Traverse Town in an alleyway. I still have no clue what happened between those times, and Axel doesn't know any better than me.

Eventually I explained everything to Namine (Ventus and the unknown night in Traverse Town), and she understood. We made up, and promised to never fight like that again. We broke that promise of course, since it's kind of impossible not to fight for a couple, but from then on we always talked about our problems.

Well, I'm still confused about why I'm not dead. Or maybe I am. If I'm dead, then the afterlife really sucks, I tell ya. Well, might as well get up and find some answers.

I go to sit up, but before I even got into a sitting position I groan and lay back down. "Oh, my head." I groaned.

"Good to see you awake," A voice behind me said. Who's that? My question was soon answered when two figures walk into my line of vision.

"Cloud? Sora? Does that mean I'm not dead?" I asked them, groaning. Cloud's face remains blank while Hayner smiles.

"Nope, sorry. Still stuck here with me." Hayner said, his smile growing into a grin.

"Roxas," Cloud started, "You are either the bravest, or stupidest soldier I have ever known.

"I think he's both." Hayner suggested. Cloud nodded in agreement.

Cloud is our commanding officer. He's really laid back about everything. He's like one of the guys, except a few years older. He's actually really young for a commanding officer. He's actually one of the youngest HBAF generals ever. He doesn't really care what we do in our off time, as long as it doesn't put anyone in danger. Whenever anyone writes us letters (the only way anyone can communicate with us) he always makes sure they get through as soon as possible, especially if it's from one of the girls. Most commanding officers would just collect them every few months and give us multiple letters at once, all old.

Suddenly, two more people came streaming in, and there was a lot of pressure on me.

"Roxas! Roxas! You're okay!" A certain brunette spiked solider said from on top of me.

"Geez, Sora. Let him breathe, he only just woke up." Riku said from next to Hayner.

"But Riku, we just found out Roxas' alive!" Sora exclaimed.

"And you're squeezing him so tight that soon he's going to die of suffocation if you don't stop anytime soon." Riku pointed out. Sora seemed to see his point and let go of me.

As soon as the brunette was off me, Riku was, but not in a loving way, like Sora was. No Riku was more violent and threatening.

"Roxas I swear, if you ever put your life in danger like that, and almost die, I will make you really die!" He shouted in my ear, his hands on the collar of the hospital gown they must have put on me while I was unconscious.

"Geez Riku, I think he sees the point. You can get off him now." Hayner said. Riku followed his own advice and got off me.

"Yeah Riku, I'll consider that threat the next time I save all of our butts." I retorted once he got to his feet. He only smirked.

"Oh please, I had it covered." He said smirking, "If it hadn't been for you and the helicopter, I would have taken out every imperial soldier myself." Riku joked. But in his eyes I saw the rare gleam of an unsaid thank you for saving him. No further thanks required.

"Wait, what helicopter?" I asked them, looking to them for an answer.

"Oh yeah, you passed out by then." Sora explained, "You should have seen it, when you passed out, Cloud came in a helicopter, with a huge machine gun, taking out the reinforcements that were coming in after you took out the last three waves with that explosion. While he was doing that, the second in command Tifa lowered down a ladder to gut us back up into the helicopter." Sora explained, mimicking Cloud with a machine gun, making 'pew pew' sounds with his mouth. Tifa is Cloud's second in command. But if you ask me, she's a little something more than second in command to him.

"Yeah, you managed to break more than a few bones, plus get a concussion in our 'bravery'." Hayner explained pointing to his head in explanation.

"Oh." I said. There was nothing else to say. "Wait, how long was I out?" I asked Cloud.

"A little more than a day." Cloud summed up, using much less explanation than Sora would have. That's why I asked him, because he doesn't like to talk very much, so he gets right to the point.

"A whole day." I murmured more to myself than to anyone else. "Wait, does that mean that today is Memorial Day?" I asked them.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Riku answered. "Happy Memorial Day guys." He said to all of us.

"Happy Memorial Day!" We shouted back in unison, except for Cloud, who only nodded in acknowledgment. We all loved Memorial Day. It's our holiday. Just a day to celebrate us, the soldiers. The only day we can make junk food, and Tifa makes us a cake (well, five cakes since we all eat so much). But the best part is that the girls all send us a letter. Even though they can send us letters any time, they only manage to send us one once a month because of the distance between Hollow Bastion and The Land of Dragons. But we all look forward to their letters; they're the highlight of our months.

"Hello?" A voice called in. "Everyone in here?"

"Yeah, we're all in here, Tifa." Riku answered. Soon the only girl soldier in the whole military walked in, with her arms full of envelopes.

"I figured you would want these." Tifa said with a small smile, holding out the envelopes. She doesn't understand, she doesn't really have anyone back home, much less a spouse. Although I think that something is going on between Tifa and Cloud, and the slight blush on his cheeks at the sight of her only confirms it. Although the only people who aren't too dense to see it is Riku and I, and we're too nice to say anything about it.

Everyone swarms her and piles up on top of her, trying to get their letter. Soon there is a mass pile of struggling boys on top of Tifa. One by one the boys on top of her started to get up, letters in hand. As expected there was one letter for each one of us. The others stopped trying to write to us more than twice a year, they just get so busy that they can't write much more often than that.

Everyone but me has their letter. Mine lays on the ground where Tifa dropped it in the middle of being attacked. Without a word, Cloud walks over and picks up the letter, handing it to me still without saying a word. "Thanks." I tell him. He only nods.

"Well I guess we should leave you guys alone so you all have time to read those letters." Tifa said, heading for the exit of the tent. It was common knowledge that we all liked to read our letters in private. We won't admit it, but sometimes we cry when we read them. "Come on Cloud." Tifa called from the exit. Something tells me that they have their own private little celebration to do. Cloud silently left the tent.

"Well, I call this room." Sora called dibs.

"Um, since I'm hospitalized, I think I should stay in my hospital room." I suggested to Sora.

He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I guess you have a point."

"I've got dibs on the mess hall." Riku shouted before taking off in a sprint.

"But Riku!" Sora whined, "I wanted to eat while I read my letter."

He won't catch up to Riku. Riku is way faster than Sora is. "Well," Hayner started, "I guess I'll take off to the explosives shack."

"See you later!" I called after him.

"Later!" Was all he called back. I can't blame him; we're all excited about the letters.

I look down at my own letter. I could see my name written in Namine's fancy writing on the stark white envelope. Roxas. Just seeing the way she writes my name makes me smile. I almost rip open the envelope in anticipation, but I pace myself. I want to savor the moment.

I open the envelope, not making a tear in it, so I can save the letter to read later. I carefully pull out the slip of paper and unfold it. I don't want to damage it in anyway. When I finally pull out the paper my eyes look ravage it like a piece of raw meat to a starving man.

 _Dear Roxas_

 _Happy Memorial Day! How's my favorite soldier? I've missed you a ton, especially since our anniversary just passed. It's been really hard without you, but life goes on. Things are really tough without you here. Seifer's been pursuing me again with you gone, but Kairi slugged him when he tried to kiss me (don't worry he didn't actually kiss me Kairi punched him before he could succeed). I can't believe that you only have one more month before you're done! It's so close, yet so far. I can't wait for you to get home. I'll be waiting._

 _Love, Namine_

I read through the letter several times before I hold onto every word she wrote. I can hear her talking as I read the letter, and I can hear her giggle at happy moments, and sigh at the sad moments.

Different emotions run through me at different intervals. I feel incredible joy when she calls me her 'favorite soldier'. This is what she's always called me, even before I joined the HBAF. It's like she knew. I feel sad when she brings up our anniversary, because I've missed it every year I've been in the HBAF. Don't worry; I'll be home for the next one. And I'll buy you the best colored pencils money can buy, even if I need to save up for a whole year. I feel guilt when she says it's hard without me. I've been gone for so long. When she mentions Seifer and his nonstop pursuing of Namine, I get incredibly angry, but I feel thankfulness when I hear that Kairi punched him in the face. Next time I see her remind me to thank her. When she mentions that I have one more month, I feel happy again. In one month I can see Namine. When she says she'll be waiting, I feel proud. She's so loyal; she would never even consider cheating on me while I'm gone.

Namine. One more month. In one month I can have my wish- no better. I can tell her I love her myself.

"I love you Namine"

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 **And that's the end of that. Oh the feels I get when I read that last line. I'm sorry I know that it's not Memorial Day anymore, but it took me awhile to write this. To anyone who's reading** _ **I'll be your eyes**_ **: I'm taking a break to finish my other fanfiction before I work on that one, If I have time, and I already wrote a chapter of the other one, I'll update that. To everyone who's reading** _ **The prophecy of sight**_ **, I'm sorry, the next chapter is half done, but I realized I needed to work on this, so I did. I'll update In the morning I promise.**

 **My heart belongs to me-**

 **Gamblinman**

 **PS: Please review, reviews make me happy!**


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